[Robert Cahill]

I have normally just taken acrylic paint from the bottle and applied it to my carvings. I realized I could do a lot better so I put flesh tones in the search engine and got some really really good advice from Susan, Lynn and others and want to Thank everyone for posting.
I have one question I am confused on and that is shadow tones. I see burnt umber for shadow tones. Do you apply it and just wipe it off or exactly what is shadow tones. I am not much of a painter so please overlook my ignorance.

Robert

[susieq]

Robert, if you are going to paint some shadows into your piece, burnt umber is a great choice, I use it alot on my work. (I do not use burnt umber on flesh tones though, I use caucasian flesh by Ceramcoat) I learned how to use an angle shader brush to do this with. It is a hard technique to describe but easy to do with practise. Start with a good quality brush. The angle shaders come in a variety of sizes so I recomend a 1/4 inch or 3/8 to start.

set up your resevoir (an empty clean margerine tub works fine) and your dabbing cloth. I use paper towel folded to a double thickness. Then with your already painted piece handy and a clear vision of where you want to ad shadows already in your mind......wet the brush, dab it sideways on the towel, very quickley. dip only the pointed end into some fresh burnt umber paint, draw it back and forth on your pallet a couple of times to get excess paint out, and paint along the area you want to shade. The paint should flow out of the brush darker at the point and gradually lighter from the tip out toward the back end of the brush as you draw it at a right angel toward you along the area in question. (be sure to try this on a test piece a few times first.) When you have gotten the hang of this, it gives your piece almost an airbrushed look.

The biggest trick is to know how much water to dab out of the brush before dipping it into the paint.... I just lay the brush end on it's side on the towel just briefly. You don't want the brush dry for this.

I usually keep a wet brush handy incase I mess up. If you take a real wet brush over what you have just goofed on, it will come up and you can start over when the are is dry again.

Rinse your brushes often as you work. Never allow the paint to dry in your brush.

A friend taught me this shading trick years ago and it is one of the most useful things I ever learned. Wish I could show you because you would catch on right away. Sorry if my description of the technique is not clear....

good luck.
susieq

[Robert Cahill]

Susan,
Thank you do much for your reply. I will be going into a larger town in a few days and will pick up a couple of brushes and will give it a try.

Robert